Plant-protector



(No Model.)

H. T. SHEPHERD.

PLANT PROTECTOR.

Patented May 13,1890.

A TTOHNE Y S.

UNTTED STATES PATENT @Trina HENRY T. SHEPHERD, OE BENTONSPORT, OlVA.

PLANT-PROTECTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,921, dated May 13,1890.

Application tiled September 27, 1889. Serial No. 325,264. (No model.)

To' all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that l, HENRY T. SHEPHERD, of Bentonsport, in the county ofVan Buren and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Plant-Protectors, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXactdescription.

This invention relates to that description of plant-protectors which aremainlycoinposed of a wire-screen cover adapted to wholly inolose theplant to protect the latter from the ravages of insects withouteXcluding the sun, air, and moisture from it, so as not to interferewith the growth of the plant.

The object of the invention is to produce a cheap, simple, and efficientplan t-protector of this kind, and which I more especially7 design touse over melons to protect them from bugs and cut-worms, but which mayalso be used as a protector for other plants.

The invention consists in a novel construction of the device, includinga wire used lfor anchoring the saine, and in the means used forfastening` the anchoring-wire and for closing the protector and securingthe anchoringwire and protector together, substantially as hereinafterdescribed, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l represents a view in perspective of a plant-protector embodyingmy invention as applied or when in use. Fig. 2 is a face view of thepiece of wire cloth or netting of which the protector or body part ismade before said piece is bent to form the protector. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal view of one of a series of staples used to close thewire-cloth when bent into shape and to secure the body of the protectorand an anchoring-wire together and in place; and Fig. 4 is a vertical do at the base of the piece together, thereby making the body of theprotector of a cone shape, as shown in Figs. l and 4. After theprotector-body has been thus formed it is held in shape at its top andside by means of an anchoring-wire B and staples c, as follows: Theanchoring-wire B is arranged to extend up the side and over the top ofthe protectorbody, and some few inches below the latter to stick intoand anchor the protector to the ground after the latter has been placedover the plant, said wire running up the side of the protector along' orover its seam or joint in the body, and being secured in position by thestaples c, the prongs of which are passed through the wire-cloth onopposite sides of the joint in the body, and then clinched or bent, asshown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, up against the other surface of thecloth. The upper end of this wire B is of crooked shape to fit over anddown the top of the protector, and such bent or crooked top end of saidwire is afterward passed through the opposite side of the protector andbent or clinched up against it, as shown in Fig. Ll, thereby holding thetop of the protector closed and in shape.

From this description it will be seen that the anchoring-wire B hasseveral functions. Thus it not only serves to anchor the protector tothe ground, but to hold its top closed and in shape, and, in connectionwith the staples c, to secure the edges of the protector together andhold the protector generally in shape. This construction, too, of theprotector not only admits of a number of them being packed together in acontracted space for storage or transportation, but, unlike otherplant-protectors made of wire-cloth, either with vertical sides and aflat top or with vertical sides and a short conical top, a

more extended exposure of the inclosed plant to the sun is obtained bymaking the whole structure conical-'Jah at is, both sides and top--which will permit of a ready access of the snns rays at all periods ofthe day, whether the rays be vertical or slanting. This result is notattained with a non-reticulated plantprotector of conical form.

Having thus described my inventionJ claim as new and desire to secure byLetters PatentM IOO l. A plant-protector comprising a conical top, withits crooked cnd passing ovcr the wire-cloth body and au anchoring-Wiresetop thereof aud bent to project through the cured to the outside oi'the body, and having wire-cloth and clinched against thc saine, and itsupper end bent down over the top and seche clinched staples c, unitingthe anchoring- 5 cured thereto and its lower end projectingbe wire withthe reticulated body of the pro- 15 low the said body, substantially asdescribed. tecior, essentially as shown and described.

2. In a plant-protector, the combination of HENRY T. SHEPHERD. theWire-cloth body A, of conical construction, lVtnesses: theanchoring-Wire B, applied to or up the ANDREW REED, 1o seam or joint insaid body and crooked at its S. C. FRANKS.

